Red Board Wipes
Pioneer forum
Posted on Nov. 28, 2021, 8:27 p.m. by Trencherman
Hello, getting into pioneer games at the LGS and wondering about the pros and cons between sweepers in red.
Please feel free to share your experiences and/or evaluations of:
- Storm's Wrath
- Hour of Devastation
- Mizzium Mortars
- Anger of the Gods
Which ones are better against which decks? Are any of them bad against some decks? Any other nominations for good board wipes in this color?
I run in the format a bit and would like to add to the list as some of my favorites were not found. I would also like to add there are two types: large and small. Generally small red board wipes consist of 3 damage or less to the board whereas large board wipes deal more. I'll separate them into these piles. There are 2 things you are looking for when refering to red boardwipes: Mana cost and damage; you want the best bang for your buck in a sense. A semi-complete list of the best unique board wipes includes: (This list may be missing some, Gatherer missed Cinderclasm)
Small Boardwipes
Anger of the Gods: Deals 3 damage to each creature with exile clause for 3 mana at sorcery speed. A standard scale of a good board wipe.
Chandra, Awakened Inferno (Cast for 6 then -3): Deals 3 damage to each non-elemental for 6 mana at sorcery speed with potential upside after untapping next turn. Deck-dependent, if you only need a board wipe and don't need the other value this is not the card you need and isn't worth it.
Cinderclasm: Deals 1 damage to each creature for 2 (1) or 2 damage to each for 1 at instant speed. Depending on what you need the stop the instant speed is valuable as you can stop triggers ensuring what you are killing doesn't get bigger and play around any potential counterspell or protection.
Crush the Weak: 2 damage to each creature with exile clause at sorcery speed for 3 (2) or foretold to spread the mana across a couple of turns; not exactly what you want with a board wipe unless you can set it up this way. This card isn't really any better than Cinderclasm unless the is hard to cast or you need the exile clause.
End the Festivities: 1 damage to each creature and planeswalker for 1 at sorcery speed. A good standard for a tiny board wipe but is fringe in utility.
Fiery Cannonade: 2 damage to each non-pirate creature at instant speed for 2. Is deck-dependent, personally best used while piloting a pirate deck but otherwise is similar to Cinderclasm.
Flame Sweep: 2 damage to each non-flyer for 2 at instant speed. Very similar in utility to Fiery Cannonade but worse as flyers are more prevalent in the format and just in general.
Incendiary Sabotage: 3 damage to each creature at instant speed for 2 and sacing an artifact. Fringe where you need artifacts in the deck but the instant speed may be useful as described before but is somewhat on par with Anger of the Gods due to versatility but worse based on utility.
Radiant Flames: 1 2 or 3 damage to each creature depending on how many colors of mana used to cast at sorcery speed. This is a versatile board wipe and very much on par with Anger of the Gods perhaps better due to the ease of casting paired with the different modes on it but does not come with the exile clause.
Sweltering Suns: 3 damage to each creature for 1 with cycling 2 at sorcery speed. Very similar to Anger of the Gods which is a good place to be with more utility where you can get a new card from it at instant speed if it's not needed.
Vampires' Vengeance: 2 damage to each non-vampire creature. Essentially similar to Fiery Cannonade.
Large Boardwipes
Burn Down the House: 5 damage to each creature and planeswalker or 3 1/1 devil tokens with haste for the turn for 3 at sorcery speed. Depending on how much damage you need to include this one covers all your bases with additional playability with the devils.
Chandra, Flamecaller (Cast for 6 then -X): Deals X damage up to a max of 4 (unless other loyalty raising cards are used) to each creature for 6 mana at sorcery speed with potential upside after untapping next turn if it survives. Deck-dependent, if you only need a board wipe and don't need the other value this is not the card you need.
Draconic Intervention: X damage to each non-Dragon creature where X is an instant or sorcery card's mana value in your yard with the additional cost of exiling the instant or sorcery for 2 at sorcery speed. Deck dependent obviously but can go large or small just has a large additional cost. You'd want to get at least 3 damage off of this every time and more to make it really worth it.
Gates Ablaze: X damage to each creature where X is how many gates you have for 2 at sorcery speed. Very much deck dependent of course but if it fits the deck this is the card to run.
Hour of Devastation: 5 damage to each creature and each non-bolas planeswalker while losing indestructible for 3 at sorcery speed. This is similar to Burn Down the House where unless you need the additional text on the card just run Burn Down the House.
Kozilek's Return: 2 damage to each creature for 2 at instant speed with the additional bonus of exiling it from your yard as you cast an Eldrazi for 7 or more to deal 5 damage to each creature. Once again deck dependent of course but if it fits the deck this is the card to run.
Mizzium Mortars: For the board wipe mode (the only mode we are looking at) its 4 damage to each creature you don't control for 3 at sorcery speed. Not exactly the rate of a board wipe you want unless the bonus of the 1 sided boardwipe is that appealing.
Sarkhan's Unsealing: The board wipe mode is after casting a creature for 7 or more it deals 4 damage to each creature and planeswalker you don't control. Similar to Kozilek's Return but worse where you don't have the early game mode but better where it is repeatable. It doesn't look like you need this one unless it fits the deck.
Star of Extinction: The mother of all board wipes. Deal 20 damage to each creature and planeswalker while also blowing up their land for 5 at sorcery speed. Very over the top and you most likely can get what you need to do for less mana.
Storm's Wrath: Deals 4 damage to each creature and planeswalker for 2 at sorcery speed. Pretty much the best board wipe to deal 4 damage.
The Best Wipes at Each Damage
Generally speaking these are the best at simply dealing damage while staying mana conservative:
1 damage: Token hate or very aggro hate End the Festivities
2 damage: Inbetween of Token hate & standard damage Radiant Flames just due to the fact that for the same mana it can hit for 3 damage.
3 damage: Standard amount of damage It's very close but just for ease of casting Radiant Flames beats out the competition unless the cycling fits well or the exile clause is needed.
4 damage: Inbetween of Smaller and Larger amount of damage Storm's Wrath Not even a question is the best by far.
5 damage: Larger amount of damage Burn Down the House. It's close but the additional option of the card helps it beat out.
Anything Larger: Star of Extinction Basically, if you need to board wipe in red and need to deal more than 5 damage you're generally out of luck and should look elsewhere. Star of Extinction is not really a card you want to be running if you can avoid it the mana cost is just so high.
November 29, 2021 10:07 a.m.
I disagree that Burn Down the House is better than Hour of Devastation, due to Hour of Devastation getting rid of Indestructible.
I always pack Hour of Devastation in my Sideboard, unless my deck specifically works better with a different board wipe.
You'll notice most of the Pro decks pack Hour of Devastation, too.
March 24, 2022 3:06 a.m.
Depends on the fringe cases where an opponent has a creature or walker that is indestructible at the time. Meta dependent, but the additional options of Burn Down the House lead me to suspect this card is more versatile and so better, close but better.
Omniscience_is_life says... #2
Should anyone wonder the exact text of the cards in question:
Storm's Wrath
Hour of Devastation
Mizzium Mortars
Anger of the Gods
Now I don't have any experience in this format, but MTGGoldfish.com tells me that Crackling Drake and Winota, Joiner of Forces are creatures to fear--both have 4 toughness, so it would seem that Anger is out.
I tend to lean towards less mana-intensive effects whenever possible in competitive formats, so my choice out of the lain options is Storm's Wrath.
November 29, 2021 12:19 a.m.